Dayton will have three infielders in the starting lineup for the East Division team in the Midwest League All-Star game, and the Dragons will send five other players to the game as well. For the West, Cedar Rapids will three players starting, while Clinton will send the most players to the game with seven representatives. [...] Continue Reading »

The Brewers today will call up their second elite prospect of the season from Triple-A Nashville with the promotion of righthander Yovani Gallardo. He likely will replace the injured Chris Capuano in the rotation.

The 21-year-old Gallardo’s minor league credentials are non-paralleled. He leads all pitchers with 110 strikeouts, and his 12.75 strikeouts per nine innings mark comfortably surpasses that of Dodgers lefthander Clayton Kershaw, who’s second with 11.90—and that’s while facing low Class A competition. Gallardo, the Brewers’ second-round pick in 2004 from a Fort Worth high school, has gone 8-3, 2.90 in 77 2/3 innings, and his .189 opponents average is seventh-best in the minors. [...] Continue Reading »

There were no 37-run games on Wednesday, and Brandon Watson’s hitting streak took the day off along with the rest of the International League, but Wednesday’s games did include plenty of big nights from prospects having big Junes. [...] Continue Reading »

Everybody was swinging it in Double-A Altoona’s 13-3 win against New Britain on Tuesday, as the Curve pounded out 18 hits–five of which left the yard.

But the bigger news in Pirate Land was Cuban defector Yoslan Herrera, who pitched six no-hit innings and fanned seven on the way to his first career win in the States–and easily the best outing of the 26-year-old righthander’s career since he signed for $1.92 million in the offseason. [...] Continue Reading »

There are nights where you have to love minor league baseball, and Tuesday was one of those days.

Whether it was Brandon Watson extending his hitting streak to an amazing 39 games, Joba Chamberlain making the jump to Double-A look easy, Max Scherzer throwing seven perfect innings in his second start in the Diamondbacks system or Anthony Reyes outdueling Yovani Gallardo last night’s games had a little of everything.

But if you had to pick one place to be on Tuesday you could have done worse than going to Hickory, where West Virginia scored 17 runs in the first two innings in its 24-13 win over Hickory. The 37 runs tied the league record, set on a midweek night in 1996 when Macon rallied from a large early deficit to beat Charleston (S.C.) 22-15. I remember that game well because it’s the craziest game I ever witnessed in person. [...] Continue Reading »

This week’s installment considers all transactions reported between June 2-8.

Last week’s transactions available here.

No 2007 draft picks were reported as signed last week, but that will change beginning with next week’s blog and will continue through late August.

Arizona Diamondbacks
Outrighted off 40-man roster: LHP Evan MacLane
Reinstated from disabled list: OF Brandon Burgess
Rehabilitation assignment: 3B Chad Tracy (Triple-A Tucson)

Tracy was recovering from a rib cage strain.

Atlanta Braves
Recalled: RHP Blaine Boyer
Selected to major league roster: SS Yunel Escobar
Optioned to Triple-A: RHP Buddy Carlyle, 2B Martin Prado
Placed on minor league disabled list: RHP Dustin Evans
Reinstated from disabled list: SS Paul Bennett
Reinstated from inactive list: C Carlos Mendez

Escobar, a second-round pick in 2005, left the International League as one of its hottest hitters. He batted .333/.379/.456 with 10 doubles in 180 at-bats for Triple-A Richmond. [...] Continue Reading »

Brandon Watson extended his hitting streak to 38 games, Daniel Bard played a part in a six-inning rain-shortened no-hitter and Wade Davis struck out 13 in Monday action.

Triple-A

For 46 years no minor league had strung together a 38-game hitting streak, now we’ve seen it done twice in less than a month. Columbus’ Brandon Watson slapped an opposite-field single in his first at-bat to tie Mitch Hilligoss for the longest streak of the year and the past 46 years. [...] Continue Reading »

Dodgers lefthander Scott Elbert has been MIA since April, and after nearly two months of trying to rehab a shoulder injury, the 2004 first-rounder had arthroscopic surgery to remove scar tissue from his labrum. [...] Continue Reading »

All-stars from the Carolina League and the California League will square off June 19 in Stockton. Jason Delaney, who is hitting .357/.437/.581, leads the Carolina League in batting average, on-base percentage and OPS. Brandon Hynick ranks first among California League pitchers with a 1.67 ERA, and has struck out 58 batters and walked only nine in 81 innings. He will join three Lake Elsinore infielders on the California League all-star team. [...] Continue Reading »

Minor league veteran Mitch Jones won’t be a factor in the minor league home run race any more this season. The 2000 seventh-round pick of the Yankees out of Arizona State left for greener pastures in Japan after hitting .303/.402/.697 with 19 homers in 185 at-bats at Triple-A Las Vegas–his first year in the Dodgers organization.

Jones leaves the States a career .248 hitter over 7 1/2 seasons. He amassed 184 homers and 213 doubles while never getting a call to the big leagues despite spending the past 2 1/2 years at the Triple-A level.

The Florida State League all-star game will feature six players from our Top 100 Prospects list. The East roster features pitchers Jacob McGee, Will Inman and Wade Davis; the West has outfielders Cameron Maybin and Jay Bruce, and pitcher Carlos Carrasco. [...] Continue Reading »

Jared Goedert, who leads the South Atlantic League in batting average, on-base percentage and slugging average (.364/.475/.715), was among the players selected to play in the league’s all-star game. The North roster features Goedert and 2006 first round picks Kyle Drabek and Chris Marrero, while the South squad will have Mitch Hilligoss, who had a 38-game hitting streak this year. [...] Continue Reading »

Dayton will have three infielders in the starting lineup for the East Division team in the Midwest League All-Star game, and the Dragons will send five other players to the game as well. For the West, Cedar Rapids will have three players starting, while Clinton will send the most players to the game with seven representatives. [...] Continue Reading »

Kinston (N.C.) Free Press writer David Hall delivers on Indians lefthander David Huff’s injury, and righthander Adam Miller speaks about his finger injury at Triple-A Buffalo.

“Lefthander David Huff, the Cleveland Indians’ top draft pick in 2006, is out indefinitely with soreness in his throwing elbow, Kinston Indians manager Mike Sarbaugh said Saturday.

Huff, who was named to the Carolina League All-Star team this week, will fly to Cleveland and have an MRI done on the elbow on Monday. How long he will be out will be dictated by the result of the MRI, Sarbaugh said.

“If everything checks out, he’ll get back into his regular routine,” Sarbaugh said. “There’s no set date on anything right now. We’re just going to wait and see what the medical update is.” [...] Continue Reading »

Brandon Watson is threatening to leave Mitch Hilligoss’ hitting streak in his wake. Bryan Bullington left his start with a shoulder injury and James Hoey’s scoreless streak has come to an end.

Triple-A

We might as well call 2007 the year of the hitting streak. As Mitch Hilligoss’ 38-game hitting streak was wrapping up, Brandon Watson’s hitting streak was hitting its stride. Watson is only one game away from Hilligoss’ mark after he singled in the fifth inning on Sunday to extend his streak to 37 games. With a hit today, Watson would tie Hilligoss for the longest minor league hitting streak in the past 46 years. Watson also isn’t far from the International League record of 42 games, set by Jack Lelivelt in 1912.

[...] Continue Reading »

Jeff Samardzija retired all six batters he faced in his first outing out of the Daytona bullpen and followed it up with another 1 1/3 perfect innings on Friday, but the righthander hopes that the move is only temporary. [...] Continue Reading »

FRIDAY, JUNE 8

• Indians lefthander Chuck Lofgren’s spot start for Triple-A Buffalo on Friday didn’t go so well as the 21-year-old allowed six runs on seven hits over five innings. Lofgren struck out seven and walked three.

• Double-A Erie second baseman Michael Hollimon went 4-for-5 with a pair of doubles—both off Blue Jays righthander Jesse Litsch in the Seawolves’ 8-4 loss to New Hampshire. It was Litsch’s worst outing of the season but he still earned win No. 6, allowing four runs on 11 hits over 5 1/3 innings.

• Double-A Mississippi outfielder Brandon Jones went 3-for-5 and hit his 10th home run of the year in the M-Braves’ 12-3 win against Birmingham.

• Double-A Mobile outfielder Carlos Gonzalez homered twice and Justin Upton added his eighth home run since being called up from high Class A Visalia in the BayBears’ 10-3 win against Montgomery. Biscuits righthander Chris Mason left after just three innings after allowing six runs on five hits and walking three. [...] Continue Reading »

Yovani Gallardo had one of his worst starts as a pro, Joba Chambelain continued to dominate the Florida State League and Henry Sosa is carrying his sub-1.00 ERA into June.

Triple-A

The Omaha Royals proved that Yovani Gallardo is human. The Brewers top prospect allowed seven runs in 4 1/3 innings. Not only was it Gallardo’s worst start of the year–he had allowed four runs in a start only once in his previous 11 starts, but it was his worst start of the past three seasons. [...] Continue Reading »

With the draft and preparations for the 2007 Futures Game in San Francisco next month, things can get a little hairy around the Baseball America World Headquarters here in Durham, NC at this time of year.

So in case you might have missed it, here are some happenings around the minors:

• Phillies assistant general manager Mike Arbuckle said low Class A Lakewood righthander Kyle Drabek will miss up to three starts due to elbow inflammation. In his first full season, the 2006 first-rounder is 5-1, 4.17 in 46 innings for the Blue Claws.

• The Red Sox brought righthander Daniel Bard back from extended spring training, where he worked to iron out some kinks in his delivery and further hone his secondary pitches, but assigned him this time to low Class A Greenville. This will give the 2006 first-rounder a chance to have some success in a better environment than high Class A Lancaster, where Bard went 0-2, 10.13 with 22 walks in just 13 innings in his first taste of pro ball. In his first start with the Drive, Bard allowed a pair of runs on three hits over three innings against Kannapolis. [...] Continue Reading »

Reds righthander Homer Bailey will make his major league debut Friday against the Indians. He gets the call after rattling off three consecutive strong starts for Triple-A Louisville, in which he went 3-0, 2.41 with 24-5 strikeouts-walks in 18 2/3 innings.

The 21-year-old phenon arrives in Cincinnati with the Reds fighting to remain relevant, as they sport the National League’s worst record after going 9-21 in May.

With Bailey’s promotion, Brewers righthander Yovani Gallardo is the last of the blue-chip Triple-A starters to get called up. Giants righthander Tim Lincecum and Yankees righthander Phil Hughes were called up earlier in the year.